Did you…mean to say that?

When I tell you that I doubt that your healing prayer will fix the malformation in my neck, and point out that others have tried to pray for healing for that very problem, with no success, you should probably not respond with: “That doesn’t matter, because it’s all a numbers game!”

Sure, it’s true! Your con is just a numbers game. Pray for enough people, and some fraction of the potential marks will have coincidental improvements or perceived improvements in various ailments that are self-limiting or have variable courses. Then some fraction of that group will commit the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy, falsely attributing the improvement to the spell you cast. Some will even start giving your outfit money.

You just might want to avoid giving the game away like that, as I don’t think “it’ s a numbers game” is exactly concordant with the all-powerful, all-knowing healer god myth you’re peddling.

Yessenia is a graduate student studying to be a speech therapist with an emphasis on traumatic brain injuries. She spends far too much time correcting the wrong people on the internet, lifting heavy things and training her cats. She's a proud internet atheist and trolls only for the greater good.

1 Comments

I don’t have many opportunities to get free pizza out of pastors. Usually they just come to my campus to hand out books I have already read, or pamphlets I don’t want to read. If they gave me pizza, I might be less annoyed.

“Feed the hungry,” Jesus said.
“Have a book!” the evangelists say.
“Go away, I need to get to class,” I respond.